A Conveyor Belt Jams, and Finnegan Shannon's Point Lands Anyway

By Daniel Okafor

Finnegan Shannon's There's no me without you at Pioneer Works in Red Hook, Brooklyn, is a 12-foot-long square conveyor belt — think conveyor-belt sushi — set in a maroon-carpeted room. It runs through December 20. The installation considers the fragility of systems and what happens to disabled bodies when those systems fail.

The belt carries and displays objects for visitors to handle, from plush chairs to open spaces reserved for people who can't access the seating. Masks, accessible text, hand sanitizer, DIY air purifiers, and descriptive audio are all available on site. That inventory defines Shannon's vision: equitable, gentle engagement with art.

Who else appears in the show?

Three artists will be presented during the run. For the first month, Ariana Martinez places small objects in dishes atop the moving presentation for visitors to pick up and touch. These tactile, fidget-like objects range from ceramic strips to masses of rope. The critic for Hyperallergic, which published the original review, found they all delight.

Installation views were photographed by Bryan Martin for Hyperallergic.

What happens when the machine stops?

During the critic's visit, the belt wasn't turned on, which rather undermined the apparatus's accessibility intent. Staff eventually came to switch it on. When the machine proved stuck, they left without resolving the issue. The inert belt became a frustrating metaphor for institutions and a larger social apathy toward accessibility needs.

Then the review's best moment arrives. Spurred by fellow visitors' confusion, the writer gently rocked a jammed plate side to side. The belt started moving. It was accidental. Shannon's intent crystallized anyway.

"We are all interdependent," the review concludes. "Creative solutions are inexorably linked to disability, making the subject ripe for artmaking." The installation's deviation from expectation, like disability itself, offered the writer a new perspective on the world — and a reminder of collective responsibility to those who live in it.

There is a lesson here for every institution that installs access measures and forgets to plug them in. Access is a practice, not a purchase. A belt that needs a stranger's nudge to run proves the artist's point better than a functioning one would.

There's no me without you continues at Pioneer Works (159 Pioneer Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn) through December 20. The exhibition was organized by Pioneer Works. Whether the belt runs on any given day may depend, fittingly, on you.